Opening Remark

Abstract

It would be sending owls to Athens or — more appropriately — flies to Zurich if I were to begin by dilating upon the advantage we have in being able to use insects with their compound eyes as objects for neurophysiology. But if besides the wish and pleasure of wel coming you all here and of expressing my thanks to the Swiss National Fund and to all who have helped me in the preparation — if, besides these pleasant duties, I should also like to address a few introductory words to you. It is really for one reason only: to explain why we sish to consider the work of the whole visual system, and yet according to the program we hearing papers on very specialized topics in optics, electrophysiology and neuroanatomy. It would almost seem as though the propagated topics in analysis were merely words, a kind of wishful thinking not to be realized until the far distant future, serving merely to justify, and to form a superstructure for, our specialized work in a great variety of smaller fields.